This invention relates generally to rotation sensors and particularly to Sagnac ring rotation sensors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a ring laser gyroscope angular rate sensor. Still more particularly, this invention relates to methods and apparatus for correcting phase angle error occurring in a laser ring laser gyroscope that is dithered to overcome lock-in.
A ring laser gyroscope employs the Sagnac effect to detect rotation. Counter propagating light beams in a closed loop will have transit times that differ in direct proportion to the rotation rate of the loop about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the loop. The ring laser gyroscope uses the resonant properties of a closed cavity to convert the Sagnac phase difference between the counter propagating beams into a frequency difference. In an active ring laser gyroscope the cavity defined by the closed optical path becomes an oscillator, and output beams from the two directions interfere to give a beat frequency that is a measure of the rotation rate. The high optical frequencies of about 10.sup.15 Hz for light used in ring laser gyroscopes cause the minute phase changes to become beat frequencies that are readily measured.
When the rotation rate of a ring laser gyroscopes is within a certain range, the frequency difference between the beams disappears. This phenomenon is called frequency lock-in, or mode locking, and is a major difficulty with the ring laser gyroscope because at low rotation rates it causes a false indication that the device is not rotating. The range of rotation rates over which lock-in occurs is the deadband of the ring laser gyroscope.
Lock-in is believed to arise from coupling of light between the beams. The coupling results primarily from backscatter off the mirrors that confine the beams to the closed path. Backscatter causes the beam in each direction to include a small component having the frequency of the beam propagating in the other direction. The lock-in effect in a ring laser gyroscope is similar to the coupling that has been long been observed and understood in conventional electronic oscillators.
Any inability to accurately measure low rotation rates reduces the effectiveness of a ring laser gyroscope in a navigational system. There has been substantial amount of research and development work to reduce or eliminate the effects of lock-in and to enhance the effective use of ring laser gyroscopes in such systems.
There are several known approaches to solving the problems of lock-in. Various biasing techniques have been employed to avoid the dead band so that lock-in would not be a problem in ring laser gyroscope operation. Biasing techniques can be divided into mechanical and optical techniques and into fixed and dithered bias techniques.
One approach involves mechanically oscillating the ring laser gyroscope about its sensor axis so that the device is constantly sweeping through the deadband. This mechanical oscillation of the ring laser gyroscope is usually called dithering. A typical ring laser gyroscope may be dithered at about 400 Hz with an angular displacement of a few arc minutes.
The amplitude of the dithering must be carefully controlled and monitored to minimize the effects of lock-in. Since the dither oscillation angular velocity and displacement relative to a support structure can be constantly monitored, they may be excluded from the output signal of the ring laser gyroscope. However, it has been found that a constant dithering amplitude is inadequate to eliminate all of the effects of lock-in.
One approach to reducing lock-in error is to superimpose a random signal upon the amplitude of the dither driving amplifier. A random bias technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,472. Several rather severe disadvantages to the random bias technique have been found, however. The phase error, even though randomized by the technique described in this patent, is not eliminated and still remains a relatively large source of error.
Mirror dither is another approach that has been investigated in attempts to reduce the effects of lock-in. One or more of the mirrors that define the optical path may be oscillated at a very small amplitude. The Doppler effect causes a difference between the frequency of backscattered light and forward reflected light. Transverse dithering of all four mirrors of a rectangular ring laser gyroscope shifts only the frequency of the backscattered beam. However, transverse mirror dither is difficult to implement because of the large amount of energy required to move mirrors that are mounted to the ring laser gyroscope body. Longitudinal mirror dither is easier to implement, but it shifts the frequencies of both the forward and backscattered light. Therefore, the analysis of signals in a longitudinally mirror dithered ring laser gyroscope is complicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,650 to Killpatrick discloses a dithering system in which a varying bias in the frequency is applied to at least one of the counterpropagating beams. Killpatrick discloses a Faraday cell and two quarter wave plates in the path of the counterpropagating light beams. The Faraday cell includes a coil that is energized by an oscillatory current to produce an oscillatory magnetic field that interacts with the counterpropagating beams. The varying bias causes a varying frequency difference between the counterpropagating beams. This frequency difference is generally greater than the frequency difference that occurs at the lock-in threshold. The polarity of the frequency difference is periodically alternated so that the time integral of the frequency difference over the time interval between sign reversals is substantially zero.
When the sign of the frequency difference reverses, the two beams tend to lock-in since at some point the frequency difference between the beams is zero. Since the output angle of the ring laser gyroscope is generally derived from the frequency difference, which locks in to indicate a zero rotation rate even if the actual rotation rate is non-zero, an error accumulates in the output angle. The periods of time when the two beams are locked in are usually very short so that the resulting output angle error is very small for any single sign change. Nevertheless, the error resulting from lock-in during sign reversal of the frequency difference is cumulative, and in time may become significant, particularly in precision navigational systems. This error is usually the major contributor to the random walk or random drift.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,311 to Morgan et al. is directed to a ring laser gyros system in which the phase relationship between a pair of beams is accounted for. This phase may be used in a feedback loop for error control or it may be utilized to generate a set of error parameters for error correction. Morgan et al. regards the phase offset and the coupling efficiency of the two beams as being independent of time and temperature. However, the phase offset and the beam coupling efficiency are time and temperature dependent, which limits the accuracy of the error correction disclosed in Morgan et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,534 to Elbert is directed to the elimination of errors induced in dithered ring laser gyroscopes. Elbert discloses the use of a regression algorithm for minimizing lock-in. For a short time on both sides of zero velocity a trace of the rotation rate is stored in a computer memory. When there is no lock-in, this trace is a parabola. Deviations from the parabola are indicative of the lock-in rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,297 to Simpson et al. is directed to the use of phase differences between the alternating components in the counterpropagating beams to minimize lockin in a ring laser gyroscope. Signals indicative of the phase differences in the separate beams are input to a mirror driver circuit that drives two cavity length control mirrors to control the phase difference. Simpson et al discloses that the preferred phase difference between the beams for minimum lock-in is 180.degree..